Denial
by onlyonekamui
Summary: Duo has been acting strange lately and the pilots, take silent notice. But what happens when Duos life is in danger and he refuses help?


Duo woke up to his alarm clock going off loudly. Yet another lost night without sleep. This time the pain in his side was worse than yesterday and he didn't know how much longer he could hide it. It had been days since he had really eaten anything and hoped that no one would notice. Gently, he rolled out of bed and put his clothes on to go to breakfast.   
  
Trowa was in the small kitchen of the apartment they had rented. In a hanger not too far away sat their Gundams ready for action, but again it had been days since OZ attacked. Quatre read the paper while Heero sat eating what he had prepared for himself. It was Quatre that broke the somewhat unstable silence.   
  
"Has anyone seen Duo? It isn't like him to miss a meal," he asked as he sipped his coffee. It was at that moment that he came slowly down the stairs hiding behind his fake smile a world of hurt.   
  
"Sorry guys; I must have let my alarm clock sit on snooze to long." Everyone shook it off as he sat down, carefully, to join them. Trowa came over and placed a large helping of eggs in front of him, which he looked at as though he would puke. Just then, like he heard his plea of help, Wufei, walked in.   
  
"Hey can someone help me with a little mechanical work?" Duo leaped out of his seat, of course hating it and rushed over.   
  
"Sure thing, Chang old buddy."  
  
"Don't call me that," said Wufei oddly. Both left the room, without another word. Quatre however noticed something. It started out slowly then tingled wildly. But without a second thought it went away. He didn't seem to care but then realized something. Was that feeling coming from Duo?  
  
" Does anyone else find something wrong with the way Duo's acting?"  
  
It fell silent for a moment as everyone averted their attention to the grief stricken 04.  
  
" That's just Duo in a nutshell," said Trowa now moving to sit down at the table.   
  
"Yeah, he is always one to avoid Trowa's cooking, said Heero rinsing off his plate. Trowa put his fork down and glanced over his shoulder at the hopefully sarcastic 01 pilot. Heero smiled weakly and walked out of the room as Quatre held back laughter. But still he wondered about the feelings he had and soon decided that his was being nothing but stupid. Therefore he brushed his feelings aside.   
  
It was only a few hours later that Heero received a message on his computer. He typed madly to see what their next mission was. As he clicked enter a message board came up which read:   
  
An army of Leo's is heading to your vicinity; they are being backed up by a small number of Taurus's. They are sent to destroy only the five of you and bring back the Gundams unharmed for research. Be careful and watch out for each other.   
  
Doctor J  
  
"Mission accepted," said Heero as he grabbed his jacket and left the room. He ran down the stairs and out the door, remembering what J had written to him. Watch out for each other. Was it really going to be that dangerous? They had already fought with the Taurus suits and Leos before without any trouble. What made this any different? And then he remembered what Quatre had said but brushed off quickly. He ran into the hanger where the others were working on their suits.   
  
Duo who did not notice Heero's presence, wiped sweat from his forehead which he believed to be from the fever he had acquired over the last few days. The pain in his side grew worse every minute but he didn't want to tell them. He winced a moment and turned around to notice Heero's presence. If something had come up he wanted to be there to help and lying around in a bed would not cut it. At that moment Heero began to make his announcement.   
  
"Leos and Taurus suits are heading our way. Let's move out."  
  
Everyone reacted fast getting into their suits one by one. It was then that Quatre got that tingling feeling again but with the moment it vanished. He turned to see Duo sitting down slowly holding his side as he got into his suit.  
  
" Everything all right over their Duo? If you're not up to it, you can always stay behind.  
  
Duo gave a thumbs up, and proceeded in closing the door to his suit. The hanger doors opened and one by one the lights in the empty OZ base lit up illuminating the Gundanium alloy, which made its presence through it. The pain was so intense now his vision began to blur. A strange new feeling in his stomach began to churn he didn't want to throw up but if it would make him feel better he just might consider it. But throwing up and not being able to see wasn't going to help anyone especially if he passed out. He slapped himself across the face.  
  
As soon as this is over you can tell them, he told himself. He quickly joined up with his comrades as they lined up and waited.   
  
Just then a glimmer arose in the sky notifying the presence of at least thirty mobile suits. Wufei led the attack into the sky taking out three suits with his blade. As the other suits landed Trowa began to fire off rounds while Duo brought his scythe into the picture.   
  
Heero began to have his faith restore nothing seemed to be going wrong and believed victory was around the corner. But that was when the real danger struck. It was then a pain greater than Duo had ever felt raced up his side. Duo let out a painful cry and brought the Deathscythe to a halt. He sat there breathing heavily as sweat poured down his faced soaking his bangs he grabbed his side hoping that the pressure in his hands would stop the pain but still it went on. He unbuckled his harness around him and fell to the hatch door. Heero was the first to notice the God of Death had stopped his vengeance.   
  
"Duo? What's the matter?," Heero received no response. "Maxwell, answer me!!" This time he got the sound of vomiting. The Leos were finished off by Quatre, who soon felt a small pain in his side. What was that he wondered? He too had noticed Duo had stopped moving. Quickly, he exited his Gundam running through the flames of the Leos to aide his ailing comrade. It was then the hatch of Deathscythe opened like in slow motion Duo came tumbling out landing a few feet away from Quatre.  
  
"Duo!! What's going on?"  
  
"Not...nothing. I'm....fi..fin.." with that he vomited again. He fell back grabbing his side and breathing hard. Quatre put his hand to Duo's head soon realizing that he was burning up. Heero knew what was going on.   
  
"We need to get him inside. This is serious."   
  
Gently, Heero picked up Duo and brought him back to the hanger  
  
Inside he was laid out onto a medical table. Heero typed on his computer trying to get hold of Doctor J for assistance. Duo began to turn pale white. It was then that Doctor J's voice could be heard through out the room.   
  
"What is going on down there?" the voice asked.  
  
"We have a case of Appendicitis. I'm going to need your help to remove it."   
  
"Hold on! You think that I'm just going to let you cut me open?"  
  
"You don't have a say in the matter," said Trowa. With that, Trowa punched Duo across the face knocking him out. "It's not that were trying to hurt you Duo, it's just that were true friends and we know you'd do the same for us if we were in the same situation."  
  
"Quatre, you stay with me to help, while the rest of you leave." With that, everyone left, and waited.  
  
A few hours later, Heero came out of the room. He looked happy, for Heero anyway.  
  
"If he had waited any longer, we might have lost him. He didn't tell us because he's stubborn. We all know that he has to be there for us or it will drive him mad."  
  
"Can we see him?" asked Wufei.  
  
"Yeah, just one at a time though."  
  
"Quatre's in there right?" asked Trowa," perhaps I will be the first to relieve him of his duties."  
  
In the room, Quatre sat in the chair next to his bed telling him how dumb he had been even though he knew that he could not hear him. Trowa walked in and interrupted his self-conversation.   
  
"My turn to scold him." Quatre smiled and left the room. Trowa entered more and sat in the chair. He stared at Duo for a long time, watching him breathe.   
  
"Your lucky can still do that," he said softly," you gave us a real panic attack. You can't do this to yourself Duo. We know that you want to be there for us, but we want you there too... alive more than in spirit." He didn't say much after that. He knew he would hear more later when he was awake.   
  
Wufei stood by the window glancing at the night sky. He didn't say anything for what seemed like the entire time he was there. But right before Heero came in with ice to help with Duo's fever, Wufei walked over to Duo's bedside. He stared at the Americans hair realizing that through all the commotion it had come untwisted. Gently, he took it out entirely and with great precision put it back to the braid it once was. He then leaned into whisper into Duo's ear.   
  
"You are anything but weak." Just then Heero walked in.   
  
"Any change?" Wufei shook his head and left the room. Heero walked over to the chair and sat down.  
  
"So, how long have you been awake?"  
  
"Long enough to hear you come in," Duo said weakly. He tried to sit up but his side hurt too much. They must have found out. "So what happened?"  
  
"You needed to have your appendix out and I did it."  
  
"You cut me open and removed a piece of me?!"   
  
"Doctor J helped me through the procedure."  
  
"Well whatever; as long as it doesn't hurt anymore." Duo began to drift off again. Heero got up and began to leave the room.   
  
"Get some rest, would you."   
  
" I'm on it."  
  
It wasn't long before Duo was back to his normal self, eating and being the regular comedian in the group. Eating and helping out with the suits. Of course he always found time to miss one of Trowa's meals now and then. 


End file.
